Don't Wake Up

Ramos-Gomez, Cassandra. Don’t Wake Up (Doll Island #2)
August 25, 2026 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Diego, who had terrifying adventures in Lost on Doll Island, remains in Mexico City with his mother. He frequently visits his Abuela Ximena to learn how to fight the evil dolls, but still hasn’t told his mother about his experiences. He has enrolled in school, and hangs out with friends Jandro and Itzel. He and Jandro are involved in a robotics club, but Itzel is obsessed with magic, lugging around a huge binder of research and insisting on reading facts to the boys. Not surprisingly, she has trouble making friends with the others in their class. There is a bully, El Feo, who gives Diego and his friends a hard time for being “nerds”, but they do stand up to him. When El Feo, whose real name is Isaac, falls into a coma, Diego wonders if there is magic involved that is punishing him for his poor behavior. As other students fall unconscious after even slight infractions, the group knows they need to investigate. Itzel claims she had left her binder at school, so she and Diego and Jandro break into the school building at night. There, they find that El Chucy, a shadowy monster who devours children, is on the loose. Sucked into the dreamlike, liminal state in the school, Diego must battle to save his classmates from the monster. But who really summoned El Chucy, and how is he tied to the magical dolls?
Strengths: The idea of fellow classmates slipping into unconsciousness is an interesting one, and the shadowy world of El Chucy is reminiscent of Hermon’s Hide and Seeker. Diego, Jandro, and Itzel all get along, but have different talents and motivations. The Mexico city setting is interesting and there is plenty of Mexican culture and language to make this stand out from standard, midwestern style horror. The residual terror of the dolls is never far away, as Tomas makes all too frequent appearances! I can easily see there being a third book.
Weaknesses: There are a number of Spanish words and phrases used, which might confuse some of my readers. I also am not a fan of breaking into school buildings at night, and doubt it would be possible in many places. 

What I really think: Like so many horror books coming out this summer (Payne’s Pumpkin Apocalypse, Lavoie’s Beware the Jacks, and Howard’s Transylvania County), this book is a little cheesier than my middle school students are asking for. The level of scariness should be great for upper elementary readers who gravitate toward Stine’s Goosebumps books. I am waiting for books like Nixon’s Candidate for Murder or The Kindnapping of Christina Lattimore that are more realistic and young adult, but without the mature content of today’s young adult.